1. Field of the Invention
One or more embodiments of the invention are related to the field of education and demonstration related to physical activities. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more embodiments of the invention enable a physical activity instructional apparatus configured to enable at least audio training and/or guidance, for example related to any motion based task, detection of movement, optional audio command receipt and audio feedback based on the detected movement, for example without requiring a video display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Learning or performing a physical activity or “sequence” of body positions or movements for example requires knowledge of positions or moves and the order in which those positions or moves are to be performed. Such physical activities include but are not limited to dance, martial arts, yoga, ice-skating, gymnastics, acrobatics and free running to name a few. In addition, these physical activities may be broken down into sub-motion sequences, for example a swing in golf, tennis or baseball, or any other activity that includes positions and timings for portions of the body in a particular order, for example wrist, arm, shoulder, hip motion and/or position that occur in a particular order. Other types of physical activities include complex tasks, checklists, cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or any other physical activity. The positions or moves may be learned or utilized for example with a teacher initially or by mirroring or mimicking another person or video of a person or instruction manual for example. It is sometimes difficult to know if one is positioned or moving in the desired manner unless a teacher is watching and providing feedback, or unless immediate feedback is provided, for example via a mirror or other direct visual real-time feedback. This is not always possible depending on the position and/or speed and orientation of the movement since a person cannot see all parts of their body while moving or positioned in a particular orientation.
Although the number of positions or moves in any given activity is finite, the permutations of positions or moves that may occur in a given order is infinite since the length of a sequence may be any length. Thus, in general, sequences are difficult to learn based on the enormous size of the set of potential positions or moves that may occur in a given order. For example, this is analogous to learning the English alphabet, e.g., 26 things to learn, and then learning sequences of the letters, i.e., words that utilize that alphabet, e.g., 100,000+ words in English for example.
For example, in yoga, there are at least 600 fairly standard positions, which are known as postures or “asanas”, for example which are defined in the classic yoga book “Light on Yoga”. The postures listed therein are by no means the complete set of postures, however, the number of permutations in a random selection of only 10 postures that are not repeated is n!/(n−k!) or 600!/(600−10)!, which equals 5,607,472,330,895,911,994,149,632,000. To provide frameworks in which students may study and learn sequences, certain forms of yoga have developed sequences of moves known as “series”. Ashtanga yoga for example defines “first series” as 5 sun salutation A and B sequences and about 60 positions some of which are performed on left and right sides, intertwined with various “vinyasa” sequences that combine to form a series. First series is therefore on the order of 1000 positions that occur in the sequence. Learning the sequence may entail learning subsequences such as the sun salutations and vinyasa forms and then merely learning the order of the positions. This simplifies the problem of learning 1000 positions down to learning on the order of 100 or so positions and moves. In the best case, the student must memorize the positions in order by looking at a chart and then performing the postures. This is not allowed while practicing in a class, for example during “Mysore” practice and as such requires that the student memorize the sequence before practicing.
In martial arts, a student is not allowed to look at a chart while performing in front of a teacher, or for that matter an opposing combatant, which could be dangerous. The positions or moves in each sequence must be memorized before being performed. In Shotokan karate, a “tsuki” or punch, or “age uke” or block may be performed before and after many other “dachi” or stances, turns, pauses, etc., and learning the sequence of roughly two dozen positions or moves in each of the 26 sequences of Shotokan is very time consuming.
In dance, although “first position” is a known position, it may occur in a myriad of points in time during a dance, before and after other positions or moves. As is known there are a large number of dances, but the number of positions or moves is finite and many positions or moves are shared between different genres of dance, albeit slightly modified. Knowing how to perform a particular position or move does not aid one in learning a complex sequence. Thus, instructors have created dance step diagrams that show arrows for the directions of travel of feet with annotations describing other movements or dynamics to apply at given points in the dance. The trouble with these types of diagrams is that they cannot easily be viewed while actually dancing. Other mechanical and visual based devices have been utilized to instruct students as to the position of feet or what a dance should look like, but again, these devices are difficult to utilize when actually performing the sequence of positions or moves that make up a dance. Ice skating presents even more problems as skating on ice and looking at a chart could be dangerous to the student or other students.
Known motion capture systems tend to be utilized to analyze and/or optimize a player's swing or that are utilized for movie motion capture to animate computer generated characters. These systems, among other game related systems are known to exist, but generally provide visual feedback in one form or another to optimize a single specialized physical move, swing, or other relatively short time event. These systems are generally not used for learning a sequence of two or more different positions or moves. For example, known systems are configured to analyze a golf swing in extreme visual detail. In addition, the object of motion capture systems for golf analyze a swing and provide visual feedback after the swing, so the golfer can learn to swing in a more powerful and consistent manner.
Behavioral scientists such as Konrad Lorenz and B. F. Skinner studied and analyzed innate behavior, or ethology and learning in animals or behavioral analysis respectively. Much of the terminology used in modern day animal behavior and behaviorism is a result of these scientists. Learning in animals for example may be undertaken by providing “primary reinforcers”, for example a reward after an animal including a human has performed a desired position or move. The reward may be food, or any other thing or activity desired by the performer. Food is but one reward that may be utilized in teaching animals. For adult humans, sometimes the reward is simply knowing that the correct position or moved has been achieved. For children, sometimes the reward may be a toy or sticker for example. A “secondary reinforcer”, or event marker is a message that is given close to the moment that the desired position or move is performed to let the performer know that the primary reinforcer or reward is forthcoming. The event marker may be a sound or other stimulus, for example that may be brief enough in time to mark the specific position or move as being desired. A “tertiary reinforcer”, or cue is given to the performer to let the performer know which position or move to perform to receive the secondary reinforcer or event marker, and thus the primary reinforcer, the reward. Karen Pryor began training animals with “clickers”, which make a brief sound. Ms. Pryor has been training animals and humans using only positive reinforcement, to accelerate learning. She believes that aversive or corrective actions tend to limit the desire of the performer to try things differently, which limits the speed at which the performers learn. “TAGteach” is a human oriented version of Ms. Pryor's clicker training “TAG” is an acronym for “Teaching with Acoustical Guidance”. Ms. Pryor teaches that clickers may be utilized for training humans to perform positions or moves, for example that they cannot themselves view. For example, some coaches use clickers to tag or mark events such as “toes pointed”, “legs together”, “back straight” when teaching handstands, wherein the performer generally cannot see various body parts, but can hear a marker signal or click to determine when these positions or moves are achieved. The tertiary reinforcer in human TAG training starts with “The tag point is . . . ”. This indicates to the performer the position or move that will yield a secondary reinforcer or event marker or tag, which will yield the primary reinforcer or reward, for example beads or the knowledge that the position or move was achieved. Tag points are “precise, observable and measurable acts” that do not use the word “and”. Tag points are not relative, i.e., “run faster”, but rather specific, “raise your foot until it is level with your knee”. This eliminates subjective event marking and lets the performer know if they performed the position or move. Click training appears to utilize the amygdala portion of the brain to more rapidly learn and forms longer lasting memory. This type of training requires a trainer to watch and click when tag points are achieved.
For at least the limitations described above there is a need for a physical activity instructional apparatus that enable at least audio training and/or guidance for motion based tasks, detection of movement, optional audio command receipt and audio feedback based on the detected movement during the performance of a sequence of positions or moves, and for example does not require the performer or student to look at a visual display while performing.